What makes a word “real”?

What makes a word “real”?

我們常用字典，
紙本或線上字典成為我們用字的參考。
語言學史教授Anne Curzan精闢的演說，
分享了語言的改變，
她舉的例子很有趣。
例如新的用字
defriend
(猜到了嗎？這個詞來自於Facebook)
新的俚語
hunger+angry=hangry
adorable+(dorky)=adorkable。
但這類的字如何才能被編入字典，
成為"real word"？
Anne Curzan分享了新字能進入字典的條件及歷程。
但她指出
...dictionaries are fantastic resources, but they are human and they are not timeless.
...they're just trying to keep up with us as we change the language.
(they=dictionary editors)
她也分享American English Word of the Year，
曾獲選的年度新字有
tweet
hashtag
Chad
有些字用久了，就習以為常了，
例如app、google (V)
有興趣的朋友可到
http://languageandhumor.com/language/wordoftheyear.html
去查閱。
除了新字，
原有的字字義會改變。
例如nice以前的字義為silly。
peruse也由 read carefully轉為read quickly。
字的發音也會改變。
凡此種種，反映了
It (English language) is rich and vibrant and filled with the creativity of the speakers who speak it.
Anne Curzan鼓勵大家
將語言的改變及增添視為fun and fascinating。
她的結論也很受用。
Dictionaries are a wonderful guide and resource, but there is no objective dictionary authority out there that is the final arbiter about what words mean. If a community of speakers is using a word and knows what it means, it's real. That word might be slangy, that word might be informal, that word might be a word that you think is illogical or unnecessary, but that word that we're using, that word is real.